


The Gesture

by tobalance



Category: Baseball RPF
Genre: Gen, Not Beta Read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2020-01-12 18:27:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18452159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tobalance/pseuds/tobalance
Summary: He doesn’t change a thing. Not one thing.





	The Gesture

He doesn’t change a thing. Not one thing. 

He stands there and feels the lake effect chill cut through him one last time and thinks about the fact that even if he hadn’t decided to make this gesture, even if he’d done all the research Brad had given him on his own, he wouldn’t be able to sway the tide. 

They were past the point where winning this game was what was most important anyway. Everything was a statement of something else now. It’s not like they were heading to the playoffs or even above 500 for that matter. 

All that research and paper which he left untouched. 

On paper there’s a reason for everything: Lefties verses Righties, number of pitches thrown, steal probabilities. What to do and why. 

The outcome though, that’s out of their hands. 

Your intentions and your actions, gestures like what Brad had done for Romine and now for him, those weren’t. Ian knows he is just as capable of them. 

So he stands there and watches and he changes nothing. 

He’s never been good at silence though. He’s never been able to trust that people would get the meaning without the words. He’s never been able to simply roll his eyes or shake his head and trust that the universe would get from that how badly he wanted it, them, everything to just fuck the fuck off. 

When the game is over, when it’s all over really, he feels compelled against his better judgment to offer, “Your last game was a win. A record setting one at that.”

Brad touches the tip of his cap as he moves past, so subtly he wonders if he imagined it. 

“Good luck next season,” he hears him say as he heads towards his office. What use to be his office.


End file.
